The whole sea-bang at J. Sheekey

The leggy lovelies have arrived across the pond, strutting up a storm with non-stop fashion action at London’s Somerset House. When you need respite from the parade of new faces and willowy figures, there’s nothing quite like a glass of champagne and a half dozen oysters at nearby J. Sheekey Oyster Bar, a stiletto’s toss from the tents. It’s the perfect waistline-friendly pitstop to recharge between shows, and has proved season after season to be the chicest star on the circuit.

28-34 St. Martin’s Court, Covent Garden, London. T: +44 020 7240 2565. W: jsheekeyoysterbar.co.uk

Spa-tacular city views

Welcome back to our weekly LUXE Links, in which we source some of the week’s best reads from around the web and around the world. This week, a fashion show on ice, Mexico City’s best street food, and a rooftop thermal bath overlooking Zurich. Get clickin’, chickens!

Once a brewery, now a Zurich boutique hotel with an 11,000 square-foot spa and rooftop thermal bath. [Urban Daddy]

Why the Moncler Grenoble show was one of our New York Fashion Week favourites [Style Bubble]

A photo tour of the many delicacies at Noryangjin Fish Market in Seoul [Seoul Eats]

Zip-lining, jet-skiing, and good ol’ sunbathing at these 10 South American getaways [Huffington Post]

From tacos and nopales to Japanese shabu shabu, seven must-hit eateries in Mexico City [Eater]

Fashion crème de la crème lie just beyond the velvet rope

New York’s loveliest and leggiest will soon strut off the Big Apple’s runways for autumn/winter 2012, but the fashiony fun has only just begun with our European faves London, Milan and Paris next on the map. If you’re in the city that never sleeps however, cosy up to a supermodel for a chance to get into Chinatown hotspot Le Baron, where André Saraiva (ex-The Beatrice Inn and Kenmare) has brought Paris’ most fashionable party to NYC. Although photography is strictly forbidden, know that good times await inside this louche 70s-style Saigon lounge, just remember kittens – dress to kill.

32 Mulberry Street, New York, USA. W: clublebaron.com

An enLIGHTening experience, indeed. [Photo: Stijn Coppens/Huffington Post]

Welcome to our weekly LUXE Links, in which we source some of the week’s best reads from around the web and around the world. In our inaugural week, we bring you food porn, a light festival, and an outer-space themed hotel room. Get clickin’, chickens!

A peek inside the heavenly home of NYC-based jewellery maestro Eddie Borgo [The Coveteur]

The five best restaurants in Amsterdam, according to a Dutch foodie [Dutch Grub]

A fiber-optic ceiling of stars, a.k.a. the outer-space themed room at Singapore’s Wanderlust Hotel [Hotel Chatter]

LED cathedral in Belgium made from 55,000 lights is divine indeed. [Huffington Post]

Bourbon cheese balls, black truffle onigiri, and Dungeness crab arancini. Need we continue? [Foodspotting]

Here’s to a cracking Year of the Dragon [Photo: Alamy/Destination MO]

Dear hearts, if you’re in Hong Kong over Chinese New Year, you just lucked out. Traditionally, the holiday is a time for families to gather at home to eat, drink, and eat some more, which means the usually frantic city is gloriously peaceful, and all yours to explore. What’s more, this year’s zodiac is the prime symbol of good fortune, so what better fortuity could befall you than to be in Hong Kong to meet that Dragon? As ever, we love to share our faves with you Leggy Lovelies, so here are some top tips on what to see, do and eat in the Fragrant Harbour, compiled for Mandarin Oriental’s Destination MO magazine by the man behind LUXE City Guides, Grant Thatcher. Kung hei fat choi, darlings!

Want more fab tips on Hong Kong? Check out the LUXE Hong Kong guide, or download the handy app with maps.

Clearly not a dragon, but oh-so-cute

Wouldn’t you know it, the Christmas tinsel is barely down and it’s already time to get your house in order for Chinese New Year. The omens are especially auspicious this year, the Year of the Dragon, the most powerful and luckiest sign in the Chinese zodiac. It’s your best chance in many moons to make it rich, and the year will see a boom in weddings and babies as couples seek to cash in on the dragon’s charms. To help you on your way to prosperity, here are eight lucky greetings to bring in the new year. Gracious, is there an obsession with money or what?

Kung hei fat choi: May you be prosperous

Sum seung si sing: May all your wishes come true

Nin nin yau yu: May you have an abundance of money, year after year

Yut bun maan lei: May a small investment bring 10,000 times the profit

Saang yi hing lung: May your business thrive and prosper

Sing gwoon fat choi: May you get a job promotion and handsome pay rise

Lung ma tsing sun: May you have the energy and vigour of a dragon and horse (wishing the elderly longevity)

Cheut yup ping on: May you come and go in peace (especially useful for travel)

The LUXE Life Q&A

Eric Standop, Face Reader

Wouldn’t it be great if you could learn to suss out that handsome Henry (or sexy Susie) that just invited you to dinner, simply by looking at his or her face? Well, according to face reading and nutrition guru Eric Standop, who’s been in the biz for over seven years and trained under one of the last masters of face reading, you can. That’s not all, Eric, also a trained nutritionist, can point to illness and nutritional deficiencies just from facial cues in the skin, lips and eyes too. Based in Germany, Eric is well versed in the ancient art of face reading, including the Chinese version siang mien, and Greek and Roman physiognomy techniques, and travels the world over for consultations. While in Hong Kong working with The Mandarin Spa at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Eric found time to divulge a few juicy tidbits about his unique skill.

Read more…

Suiboku - gorgeous, stylish, commodius, and a LUXE fave

Calling all ski bunnies, this is a WIN WITH LUXE you won’t want to miss! To celebrate the launch of the brand new LUXE Niseko mobile app, we’re giving away FIVE nights in a two-bedroom loft at the gorgeous Suiboku in powder paradise, Niseko United Resort, Japan. An ode to industrial-luxe in a hard-to-beat location on the main street in Upper Hirafu village (and a mere two-minute trot or 20-second ski to the lifts), the loft comes complete with a roaring fireplace, heated floors, Japanese soaking tub, breathtaking Mt. Yotei views and much, much more. It doesn’t stop there though, we’re also throwing in an iPhone 4, so you can take full advantage of our fab app about where to ski and eat once you’re there. Now how’s that for a prize?

All you have to do is sign in or register here to enter. The lucky winner will be announced on our Facebook page, so keep those peepers peeled. Easy!

Well dear hearts, it’s that time of year again – hasn’t 2011 just flown right by? With only a matter of hours to go until the big day, we can hardly contain ourselves, and can’t wait to see if Santa and our loved ones have been taking notes from our wish-list. But as we all know too well, sometimes even our dearest and nearest can have a lapse in judgment when it comes to gifts – just ask the kids who got pranked by their parents for Jimmy Kimmel’s amusement. So, to help you navigate the pitfalls of accepting truly terrible pressies, we’ve put together a few handy phrases. We hope you won’t have to use them, but just in case, plaster on that huge grin, and practise saying these polite half-truths:

Read more…

Not Baz Luhrman...

Hello, poppets! Clued-in Claras will already know the story of how LUXE City Guides came to being, but what do you know about the man who started it all? Well darlings, simply point your cursors to The Huffington Post, where you’ll find a fun little Q&A with LUXE Founder and Publishing Editor, Grant Thatcher. What does he chat about exactly? From being mistaken for Baz Luhrman to how the world could do with less of elevator sex in films – you know, the usual. TTFN!